That goal will boost Martinelli’s confidence for the fixtures ahead.
Arsenal’s elite mentality and never say die attitude was on full display in the game against Leicester on Saturday, snatching a winner and then the icing on the cake after the 90th minute at the Emirates to seal a dramatic 4-2 victory.
We dominated (in my opinion) every aspect from start to finish but still found ourselves level going into the end of the game, with the winner eventually coming through an own goal forced by Leandro Trossard from another set piece on Saturday afternoon.
Martinelli was visibly delighted to put us into the lead in the 20th minute however it was the miss a few minutes earlier that would’ve made the goal an even sweeter one for the Brazilian.
Having been put through on goal by Bukayo Saka, he took a heavy touch before blazing his shot over in what was a very good goal scoring opportunity, He made no mistakes with his goal however with a lovely turning finish from a Timber cross.
Why the goal will also be a relief for him is due to the fact that he hasn’t scored a goal for us since March, seven months ago! His struggles for us have been well documented throughout last season and even into this one, with the Brazilian international struggling to recreate that form we saw him on a couple of seasons ago, This has seen him understandably get less and less playing time. However he’s already starting to show this season that he’s hungry to get back to his best.
He got an assist last weekend against Manchester City, then followed that up with a goal and another assist against Leicester this gameweek, that goal especially will boost his confidence to get more in the coming games ahead, and that will only further help us in this never ending fight for glory. A fit Martinelli is a good player for any squad to have, but a fit and firing Martinelli is one of the best player’s a squad can have. He’s still incredibly talented with so much more still to offer, and I have no doubt that this goal will be a platform for him to have a very good season ahead.
KENNETH BENJAMIN.
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I will be honest, I thought, he disappeared after scoring. I hope it does boost his confidence but his decision making has to be boosted as well. Loads of talent and promise but no idea.
Reggie,
I agree with you. While it was good to see him get a goal and an assist, he far to often makes the wrong decisions when well placed.
He needs to start improving that side of his game, if he want’s to progress as a player.
👍
I notice the difference in Martinelli since he’s had two excellent players supporting him from behind.
Timber and Califiori have given him the opportunity to showcase his undoubted talent once again and he is thriving from the experience.
His defensive work is also improving and, just like every other player, he will make mistakes.
I disagree his decision-making has been particularly poor, it’s more execution. Saka takes similar decisions, which often look poor in retrospect eg when he shoots from tight angles and doesn’t test the GK – the difference is he often finds a telling pass or shot of real quality, whereas it hasnt been coming off for martinelli. It looks as though arteta has faith in him and is looking to play him out of the bad form – if he was doing the wrong things ive no doubt hed have lost his place a while ago with sterling and trossard available.
Martinelli issue is that he is overthinking taking too much time to shoot or pass which leads to a poor touch or defenders catching up. One of the reasons he was considered one of our best finishers not long ago was because of his quick instinctive shooting. E.g his 1st chance where he takes another touch which puts the ball a little away from him hence the bad shot whereas the 2nd chance he took it 1st time and boom goal.